A well-known evangelical leader is encouraging conservative Christians to give presidential hopeful Fred Thompson and all other candidates a fair chance not long after another prominent conservative leader criticized the former senator for being too weak on key issues.

Although he doesnt endorse Thompson, former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer contends that conservative Christians should seriously consider him if they want to avoid a nightmare scenario where they are forced to choose between two pro-abortion, pro-gay rights candidates  Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani.

He (Thompson)s obviously against same-sex marriage. He doesnt support quite the same constitutional amendment that some of the others of us do, but hes been talking with us about it, and has been moving closer and closer on the amendment, said Bauer, who is president of American Values, according to OneNewsNow.

So I hope that we can, as a movement, be very wise about this, and not savage candidates that we may very well have to support in 2008 if theyre running against Hillary Clinton.

Last week, Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Colo.-based Focus on the Family, wrote in a private e-mail to friends and supporters that he will not support Thompson for president because he is too weak on key issues that concern the Christian right.

In particular, he criticized Thompson for not supporting a constitutional amendment that would prohibit gay marriage on a national scale.

Thompson, an actor and former senator from Tennessee, is against same-sex marriage but favors a softer stance, calling for each state to decide their own legal definition of marriage and forbidding states from imposing their marriage laws on other states.

Isnt Thompson the candidate who is opposed to the constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, wont talk at all about what he believes and cant speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail? Dobson wrote, according to The Associated Press.

The prominent Christian conservative also blasted Thompson for his seeming lack of commitment to Christianity, highlighting the candidates rare expression of faith and for not attending church regularly.

He (Thompson) has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent want to. And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? wrote Dobson.

Not for me, my brothers. Not for me.

Bauer, on the other hand, highlighted Thompsons conservative views on key issues and noted that Christian voters will likely make their own judgments on the candidate after watching debates and observing who can raise campaign funds.

I think the one thing that almost every conservative Christian agrees about is that we cannot allow Hillary Clinton to be the next President of the United States, concluded Bauer.

According to the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll, the race for the 2008 GOP nomination is highly fluid, with Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and Fred Thompson virtually tied at 24 and 19 percent, respectively. Not far behind at 15 percent is Sen. John McCain of Arizona while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 7 percent.

In contrast, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has a clear, across-the-board lead in the Democratic race over Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois by 34 percent to 20 percent, roughly the margin she has enjoyed for months.

Correction: Tuesday, September 25, 2007:

An article on Monday, Sept. 24, 2007, about the criticisms against presidential hopeful Fred Thompson and a call to not reject him incorrectly reported that former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer opposed Dr. James Dobson's criticisms of Thompson and that he defended Thompson as an evangelical favorite. The Christian Post confirmed with Bauers organization, American Values, on Tuesday that Bauers statements were not made in response to Dobsons e-mail and that he has not yet endorsed Thompson. Bauer does, however, encourage Christian voters to give all presidential candidates a fair hearing.

"Bauer, on the other hand, highlighted Thompson’s conservative views on key issues and noted that Christian voters will likely make “their own judgments” on the candidate after watching debates and observing who can raise campaign funds." Fred hasn't appeared in any debates, he barely campaigns, and he hasn't raised piles of cash as of yet. Dobson is the outer edge, most folks are a bit closer to the middle but Dobson not endorsing Fred a year before the election is surprising, mostly endorsements come much later then this, 4 months or so until the vote in NH..

I like Dr. Dobson, but he’s wrong on the Thompson issue. Thompson, in comparison to the other three front-runners, is the best choice for any person voting on their conservative or Christian values. Also, he won’t back down to the (obviously scared) media and doesn’t have a past that contradicts his stances on the issues.

4
posted on 09/26/2007 4:56:11 PM PDT
by BKerr
(Swap principle for power and you'll end up with neither! Vote Thompson 2008!)

I have had a lot of respect for Dobson, and continue to have respect for the man, but I too disagree with him. I'll always respect Dobson. There will always be a special place in my heart for him. When I was raising my children, we lived 3,000 miles from home and my parents. Dobson was the voice of wisdom I needed to hear in regard to childrearing. But this is politics.

I will look at all candidates with the exception of the Dems (as I already don’t agree with any of their political views or values.) I will then at some point make reasoned decisions and pray. Then I will vote. My sense is each person is different and some Christians may pick one guy and another another.

Either way what I love about conservatives is that they are not sheep like the Libs. Period. If they, in the end, all end up voting for the same guy it is usually because their research and decision making process individually has bore it out that way. It is the drive by media the leads us to believe otherwise.

I would like to see Gary Bauer more involved with one of the candidates. He’s not likely to do that. I would think his positions would be more consistent with Duncan Hunter’s than with any other, but Br. Bauer is not likely to endorse. We’ll see.

Mr. Bauer is a good man with a keen sense of history and heritage. I hope he is called upon by our new president (I am just assuming that it won’t be a Democrat).

Congressman Duncan Hunter isn’t even mentioned in the polls I linked to. What does that tell you? He may be the “conservative’s conservative” but he’s not gaining any traction. Senator Fred Thompson is, by far, the most conservative of the front-runners. There is soon going to come a time when conservatives and others concerned with our future will have to make a decision about who would best represent our issues, concerns and interests in the White House. Choose well, our children’s future depends on it!

I suppose Bauer would rather burn in h*** before endorsing a Mormon (Mitt Romney) who has both the zeal and the ethics? What is it with Christian conservatives these days? Have they truly become that bigotted?

BUMP! Just a FredHead from the beginning...and as I see the stand of other candidates, I just become stronger in my commitment to his down to earth common sense. Unfortunately, there are millions of people out there that watch only the "sound bite" of the day. Well...learn to play the game, or change the game. 2 years of campaigning is too much. Fred could see that. I too became impatient because I saw something in him many years ago that stuck in my gut! I wasn't wrong then, and I am not wrong now!

Who will pull their party together first? Democrats behind the Clinton machine? OR...Republicans coming to the table with real ideas and real solutions on critical issues. OR just a mad desire to save our Country from the Clintons? There is still a great deal of time to have you become comfortable with Senator Thompson. Senator Thompson is a "Southern Gentleman" who moves at his own pace (not the pace of the main stream media), but with careful thought and deliberation. Be patient...watch closely.

I am listening to the debate on MSNBC and not one word has been said about Iraq coming anywhere close to VICTORY. Defeat is all they know...run, like the cowards they are. It is sooooooo sad!

And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

That sorta in a nutshell tells me that voting for a man that has nothing to do with God anymore is wrong. It also speaks to me that those that use that arguement (voting the lesser of two evils) are setting them up for hurt (damnation is not a sweet term)...

28
posted on 09/27/2007 1:48:22 AM PDT
by LowOiL
(Duncan Hunter .. a man you're not ashamed to support full heartedly..)

Isnt Thompson the candidate who is opposed to the constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, wont talk at all about what he believes and cant speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail? Dobson wrote, according to The Associated Press.

Let's take it bit by bit:

Isnt Thompson the candidate who is opposed to the constitutional amendment to protect marriage,

Federalism requires the powers of the federal government be limited. Fred Thompson opposes gay marriage but also opposes expanding the enumerated powers of federal government.

believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S.,

There are only two definitions, either between a man and a women or not.

favors McCain-Feingold,

There are two negatives on CFR, one of which is mildly negative. The mild one is the restriction of big money donations for single candidate promotion advertising in the last weeks before election. It is negative because special interests have turned it into a free speech issue. It did not however inhibit the Swift Boat Vets from exposing John Kerry's war record as a sham.

The other negative is the necessity of expanding federal government bureaucracy to enforce the campaign finance law. In effect, a new sort of IRS has come into existence.

wont talk at all about what he believes

This is not a lucid statement. He most certainly talks about his beliefs.

cant speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?

This is a cheap shot. He has a wonderful ability to speak and communicate. This is a strength that puts him apart from the rest of the crowd.

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